i think he sees this correctly as the biggest challenge of his political career. >> another new poll by politico and george washington university. it puts the momentum in romney's court. republican nominee on the line potentially in position to take the winning shot in ten key battleground states. president obama and his team of coaches are in virginia practicing with the goal of a slam dunk tomorrow night. >> he knew when he walked off that stage and he also knew as he's watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. i think the president will walk through for voters in that room undecided exactly what the romney campaign wants to do and why it's bad for this country. >> can mitt romney keep the offense going and block obama's shot debate win? >> even if he changes his style and whatever political tactic the president settles on as being in his best interests, he can't change his record and he can't change his policies. >> the president today will

spend another day engaged in debate prep at a resort in virginia. nbc news correspondent christ continue welker is there. who are the major players advising the question? how is his team preparing differently this time around? >> well, first, richard, just to get to their strategy. i think there's just a greater sense of urgency this time around. president obama and his advisors know that he has to deliver a more aggressive performance this time around if he is going to turn this campaign around. after that first debate which was really considered to be lackluster by many and which sent his campaign into a slump. that means he is simply dedicating more time to debate prep. last time, as you may remember, when he was in las vegas he held a big rally. not this time around. he made a quick stop yesterday. he might make one today. otherwise he is solely focusing on debate preparations. the other part is he's sort of projecting a different air about him to the public at least. last time he referred to debate

preparations as a drag. not this time around. here's what he had to say to a reporter who asked him how debate preparations were going yesterday. take a listen. >> i wanted to call and say thank you. i'm over at the williamsburg office. i know you have been working so hard for the campaign. >> how is debate prep going? >> it is going great. >> so you heard the president say debate preparations are going great. that was during a spot at a williamsburg obama for america campaign office. now here's the team helping the president. take a look, richard. david axlerod, one of his top advisors. senator john kerry playing the role of mitt romney. anita dunn being moderator candy crowley. national security advisor ben roads and marie harf. they were not part of the debate prep before. they are this time, why? specifically the issue of libya. as you know, this administration

has been hammered over its handling of the libya situation. mitt romney preparing in boston. those who know mitt romney well say he is very comfortable in a town hall format. he practiced dozens of them. president obama, by contrast, has not really held a town hall in about nine months. a lot riding on this debate coming up on tuesday. >> nbc's kristen welker in virginia. let's bring in shawn spicer. communications's director for the republican national committee. thanks for being with us. >> you bet. >> governor romney has been in ohio 34 times since securing the gop nomination, 11 times since winning the first presidential debate. paul ryan will be campaigning there in the next hour. we'll be watching that. the governor trailing the president. mitt romney is leading in ten of the battleground states in politico's poll. trailing in the washington post political poll. what's your thought? does the governor think he can become the first republican to win without taking ohio?

>> we're going to take ohio. the ground game that we put together there is exceedingly doing very, very well in terms of the number of contacts both on the phone and door to door. as you noted, he's been there quite a number of times. i think we continue to make up grounds. some of the polls have it tied. so i think in the final weeks we'll continue to make this about a clear choice in the election and governor romney will take ohio. >> take us into the back room for a second. without ohio you need to run the board here. what are your internals showing on that? how do you get florida and virginia? those are looking good? >> florida and virginia are looking good. nevada is looking great. colorado is looking great. iowa and new hampshire is looking very good as well. so i think, a, as i mentioned, i think we're going to take ohio. b, i think when this election is done on november 6th you're going to see a lot of states

that weren't necessarily considered in play or on the top of the list. i think wisconsin is very, very close. that's another one where you've seen both of the candidates in there and i think the president's presence in wisconsin goes to show that they're very concerned about losing that as well. >> shawn, governor romney used the benghazi attack against the president. here's what he said. >> it's an issue because this is the first time in 33 years that a united states ambassador has been assassinated. mr. president, this is an issue because we were attacked successfully by terrorists on the anniversary of 9/11. president obama, this is an issue because americans wonder why it was it took so long for you and your administration to admit that this was a terrorist attack. >> well, now ambassador stevens, as you have heard, the father of ambassador stevens is saying, quote, it would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue.

it has to be objectively examined. it does not belong in the campaign arena. is the romney campaign wrong to politicize this while an investigation is ongoing? >> well, i think that when it comes to ambassador stevens' death all of us honor him for his service and his contribution to both our country and to what he did to help further the peace in libya. but what i think is an issue is this question of leadership and then how the events unfolded, what the white house did know, when it did know -- and when it knew it. so i think there's a separation. it's not necessarily about ambassador stevens but, in fact, about foreign policy and leadership and how this administration is handling the crisis that has stemmed from this internally. remember, richard, these were the same folks that came out and condemned anybody who suggested it was anything other than a video and now we're saying, hey, let's not talk about it. >> shawn -- >> i think there's a -- a lot

has to do with the handling. >> in all deference though to ambassador stevens' father, how will the governor honor his request? >> again, there is one thing to talk about an individual and bring that individual into a campaign. in this case what we're not talking about necessarily is a.mbassador stevens as much as the events that unfolded around him prior to his death and after his death in terms of the white house response. so i think you can do this in terms of referring to it as the events in libya, etc., etc., but i think this is a major issue for our country. it's a major issue for our foreign policy. it's a major issue for this administration. so i think you can talk about it in the context of the events that unfolded. there's been hearings on it. there's continuing to be a lot of stories in the media about it. so it is a major event. it's a major incident. and it's a major subject of questions for this administration. >> shawn spicer, communications director for the republican

national committee. let's bring in our monday political power. we have james peterson, director of african in a studies at lehigh university and republican strategist chip salts man. let's launch off of what was just said. james, to you on this one. when we look at it, you know, "the wall street journal" reporting today that obama aids have two concerns about the format of this debate, and as they go through that format there is the issue itself of benghazi and how he will handle that, whether romney will hit hard on that. what's your thought? >> well, first and foremost, i think the president will be really concientious about the fact that the town hall style requires him to prioritize with the kwequestioners and the folkn the audience. he'll pivot but i'll stay focused on the issues at hand which is communicating with the american people through the kwers that are there. when the bez comes up and i'm sure that it will come up, i think the president has to do

what needs to be done here, which is try to depot lit size it. exercise the patience that's required for this kind of situation and for all of those folks trying to make analogize between this and weapons of mass destruction, all of the ways people are rushing to judgment. slow that down and let the process unfold the way it needs to from the state department and not into the white house and don't polite size something unnecessarily. >> could the president recover if he doesn't get a win tomorrow night if the issue of benghazi hurts him in tomorrow's discussion? >> look, i think the bar is going to be set not just around benghazi but around his performance last time overall. i think if he's able to either bring the fight to mitt romney a little bit on some issues, whether it's libya or others, if he's able to speak directly to the audience and seem a little more lively, i think, than last time i think that will be considered a win. i think the good news for him is that the bar was set so low last time that it would be hard for

him to be graded worse than he was. >> and if he doesn't come across, if he doesn't finish the night people saying it appears he has a win, will he be able to recover? he only has one more debate left? >> what's amazing is you see it in our poll and you see it in others, that he still has basically tied. so i think anything could be fine. i don't know that he needs to knock it out of the park completely, but i think he is not aim to go do worse. >> got it. chip, joe scarborough made this point about romney's performance in the first debate and his recent surge in the polls. >> we're all talking about performance. mitt romney doesn't do very well in the first debate, the race is over. i guess any romney person looking at these polls saying, geez, we're still behind by a couple points in the national poles, they can thank their lucky stars that romney turned in a great debate, the president turned in a poor debate or else they're looking like the new york yankees 2-0 down going to detroit. >> of course, willie did not

like that as you imagine there, chip. >> what's your thought there, what does romney have to do tomorrow to at minimum maintain the momentum that the polls seem to be showing us across the country and in some of the swing states? >> i think what he did in the first debate was pretty good. he energized the base and gave them a reason to pause and give him a second look. that's what you see in the rise of these polls. what he's got to do in the second debate. now that the undecided voters are pausing, they're going to give him a second look. now he has to make the sell. we'll learn a whole lot from the first 30e minutes of this debate. is obama going to be engaging? i think he gets some points if he shows up with a pulse. the first 30 minutes will tell a lot. >> even 15. >> 70% think more highly of romney according to the polls. politico show he has broken the key 50% mark of likability. is he likeable? has he turned the corner? >> i think he has certainly turned the corner with republicans.

i think the fact that they feel more enthusiastic helps them. it could mean something in terms of turnout. the trick is to try to make a difference with the independence. if you're the romney campaign you're heading in the right direction even if you're knot there. >> on that point, to you, james. in our other poll, abc washington post. president obama holds an insignificant lead by three points. he had a 10% lead against mccain, so when you look at these numbers, romney doing better or is owe bonl ma doing worse? >> well, it's pretty clear that romney's doing better and i think he's -- what he's done is he's sort of been able to galvanize those on the right who weren't in solidarity with him so much in the republican presidential primary process. once he showed that he had a pulse in that first debate,

that's when folks galvenized around him. what's interesting is to what extent will this debate be able to talk about bain capital. we have to talk about romney's record, the president's record, or one of the two. a lot of people want them to talk about the whole issue of outsourcing jobs and what are the policies going forward from a romney administration versus an obama administration when it comes to domestic work. >> some are saying talk more about the economy. >> yes. more about the economy. >> on monday's power panel, i owe you one, my friend. we ran out of time. thanks to all of you. >> no problem. m.i.a. in massachusetts, a look, rather, at mitt romney's record as governor and his 400 plus days away from the bay state. plus this is why esz' called fearless felix. felix baumgartner taking that jump from a capsule 24 miles above earth as millions nun to watch. we'll have more on that. we want to know.

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the day after i get elected i'll sit down with the leaders, democratic leaders and republican leaders, as i did in my state, we met every monday for a couple of hours. >> mitt romney during the first presidential debate talking about how as governor of massachusetts he held leakly meetings with leaders of the legislature. romney was often absent from the state. according to that analysis, during romney's four years as governor, he spent nearly a year, almost all or part, 417 days out of the state. the times reports 70% of that

time was spent on personal or political trips unrelated to his job as governor. joining me now, phil johnston, the chairman of the massachusetts democratic party. while romney served as governor, he's now head of his own public relations firm. thanks for being with us. >> good to be here. >> you followed that article. then governor romney took lengthy vacations and weekend get aways it says, many of them at his vacation home in neighboring new hampshire. you told the times in this article you thought governor romney gave up his job. >> he was really an absentee landlord during the four years that he was here. by the way, he had a sumptuous and it remains a very sumptuous, over the top vacation home in new hampshire where he used to bring a whole hoard of security guards with him every time he went up there, which was, you know, michael dukakis was governor here and he used to go to work on the mbta with no security.

romney was always accompanied by very expensive entourage. but he was not here, particularly during the last two years, richard, of his tenure. during the first two years he worked on the health reform legislation, which is really driven by the democratic leadership and senator kennedy here in the state. but i give him credit for that. once that was achieved, however, he essentially abandoned the state and began to go national. >> phil, of note is that his home in lake winnipesaukee is far enough away but close enough to some other parts of massachusetts. that's not that far away. according to the "new york times," governor romney was especially off in the last two years. he was pursuing his presidential visions in 2008. that was after he left office. however, no one seems to be pointing to the problems resulting from his absences or

problems that may have been existent. republicans in the romney campaign insist his travels had no bearing on his job performance. >> well, of course it had an extraordinary bearing on his job performance and his popularity in the state. he would have been defeated had he run for re-election in 2006. he chose not to do so in part because he knew that he couldn't win. he had spent two years going around the country preparing to run nationally but also bad mouthing massachusetts, which was a state that had elected him governor. i think, richard, it's an extraordinary thing that in the one state where we know mitt romney best he's going to be crushed here on november 6th and i think a large part of that has to do with his very poor performance as governor of the commonwealth. >> when you talk about bad mouthing the state you're saying he was a spec of red in a blue state which is what you're alluding to, one of the comments caught on record. >> he irritated a lot of his

republican colleagues in the legislature in addition to those of us who were democrats by just sort of rid did i calling massachusetts, which was a really amazing thing to do as a sitting governor. he was roundly condemned for that by the media and as i say, not only democrats like myself but also republicans in the legislature who were very offended by his divisive approach to the commonwealth. >> during that 2006 deadly collapse there of the big dig, there are those who said his response was quite good. so there's also the flip side despite his being out of state. we did ask for a statement from the romney campaign. phil johnston, i wish we could talk more. we've run out of time. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, richard. a public funeral set for tomorrow in suburban

pennsylvania. for most of his 30 years in the senate, specter was a moderate republican who sought the political middle ground. he lost his job in 2010 amid the polarization in congress. he repeatedly a being at thatted. in a statement president obama called specter fiercely independent. never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. he died sunday at his noem philadelphia of nonhodgkin's lympho lymphoma. he was 82 years old. >> announcer: brought to you by ups. let ups put logistics to work for you. a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics.

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mobilized the nation. >> reporter: officials tell us that she has been shifted to united kingdom medical facility to continue the next stages of her treatment. she's been under the close watch of doctors here in pakistan at a military hospital outside of the capital city since her brutal attack last week. doctors yesterday had been running a series of tests to see how stable she was off the ventilator support system. they ran those tests yesterday to see how her body reacted. we're told the tests were successful. that's when they decided late last night that she was stable enough to be moved on an air ambulance provided by the united arab emirates. the doctors knew she might have to be moved abroad. she will require, quote, prolonged care to fully recover from the effects of the trauma that she recovered. trauma was the brutal attack by the taliban last week as she left school and she was shot in the head. there's some good news on the front of possible justice for malala. police tell us they've arrested several people.

40 arrested and detained but that they are closer to catching who they believe to be the mastermind behind the attack. a man known as abdula. they tell us they've rounded up his family and there should be more arrests. thank you so much. the presidential candidates may be off the stump for the debate preps, but the top surrogates are out in full swing. paul ryan hitting wisconsin and ohio. first lady michelle obama is in the buckeye state. that brings us to the ground game. which side has the advantage. we'll take you to ohio and nevada. if the president wins those, that could seal the election. plus the 24-mile free fall around the world. fearless felix broke not just one but three records with that jump. the details ahead in the news now. ♪ ♪ i'm free they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly

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and the avalanche of ads hitting the air waives with just 22 days left to election day. spending is approaching a record $800 million. the president and democrats flooded romney with negative ads. now it's the governor's turn. the washington post writes romney and his allies are banking on a high risk, high reward strategy in the final weeks of the campaign hoping that burying president obama in ads will give him a benefit. here's the romney's campaign littest ad suesing a smiling, smirking joe biden as ammunition. >> did they come in and inherit a tough situation? absolutely. we're going in the wrong direction. look at where we are. don't raise taxes on small businesses because they're our job creators. >> let's bring in nbc's news's deputy political news editor. will that one work? >> well, i think the thing is, the perceptions of joe biden are so split on partisan lines that going into the debate, if you

liked joe biden, you liked what you got out of it. if you didn't like it, you didn't like what he got out of it. i'm not totally sure that we know exactly how it's going to play with undecided voters. >> we know where this war is being waged, key three battleground states, ohio, florida, virginia. politico had done some analysis. they broke down the amount of spending within the last two weeks and they found that is where they are investing all of their money in that order with not only advertisements but also being on the ground. >> well, we've broken that down in first read plenty of times also and noting that ohio, virginia, florida which we are calling flova for that acronym. >> right. >> all the money is being spent there. more than half of the money so far on tv ads has been spent in just those three states. $776 million so far on television and radio advertisements. we're quickly approaching $800 million. that's probably going to be

reached this week. that means that we're headed somewhere close to the billion dollars in tv ad spending and radio ad spending that we thought it might get to. >> i didn't know there was enough space to be purchased by all of these campaigns in terms of trying to get their ads on afr. the president is also out with a brand new ad today. it's a positive afd titled main street. let's play a little bit of that. >> when you look at the president's plan, i don't think there can be any question that we're on the right course for today's economy. >> president obama does get what people need, and that's jobs and the opportunity to help themselves. >> now domeneco, this ad running in colorado, iowa, nevada, virginia. not ohio. is the obama campaign confident there or do you think that particular ad doesn't resonate in the buckeye state? >> it's the opposite. it's not necessarily that they're so confident that they don't want to run it in ohio.

i think the issue is they need another state. we figured out that if you give obama all of john kerry's states, give him knew mexico where he's favored and give him ohio, guess where that gets him, 269. that means we're at a tie, 269, 269. none of us welcomes that scenario. that means that the president's going to need one of these other states. iowa is a close one because it's another industrial midwestern state. nevada, you know, another possibility. virginia, obama needs one more if he's going to get ohio and romney gets all of the others. >> one of the key weeks ahead for us. thanks. speaking of mistakes, one battleground has the best track record of picking the winner of presidential elections since 1900. ohio. no republican has won the presidency without winning ohio. that's why we've seen team romney campaigning there aggressively in the last few weeks. the president though man taning a solid advantage there.

this week president obama will get help in ohio from bubba and the boss. bill clinton and bruce springstein who will stump together in parma. joining me is darryl rowland. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, richard. >> the latest nbc news wall street marist shows the polls tightening. when you look at the numbers is ohio the ultimate test for the obama ground game? >> i think you can say that. i think ohio is the ultimate test for both sides' competing strategy, richard. the obama strategy is to open all of these field offices. they view it as talking neighbor to neighbor, doing lots of door knocking. they have phone apps. you can dial up who's not been contacted in your area, go out and knock on the door. do it on a very personal level. the republicans are targeting their message for each region of ohio. for instance, the southeast ohio

they're really hammering the coal issue. also cultural issues because there are a lot of democrats in southeastern ohio but not many liberal democrats. >> you also say that because of regionality of ohio, 96 field offices, three times the number that romney has, does that mean he can be more segmented in his messaging? >> it does. in some ways that's a little misleading because the romney people are using republican hea headquarters. they have these little offices in a box. they set up instant phone banks, what have you. they're very mobile. they can get around the state. it's two competing things. i guess we'll see on november 7th which is better. >> right. you know ohio senator, rob portman. he's been governor, romney's sparring partner in the practices for the debates. he said this about team romney's new focus on the house. take a listen. >> you can probably win the presidency without ohio but i

wouldn't want to take the risk. no republican has. >> so governor romney has been there 23 days in ohio so far this year. president obama, 15 times in that same amount of time. what do you think about what he said there? is there a path to victory in ohio for romney in this last month or is it just too late? >> in ohio or nationwide, richard? >> ohio. look at the early voting. that now is leaning towards obama 2 to 1 by some estimates. >> early in person voting, yes. the jury is still out on how that's playing statewide. ohio for the first time, every voter has an absentee ballot, can fill out an absentee ballot application. get the absentee ballot. early voting is going to be a bigger and larger presence. studies have shown that the in mail absentees have gone towards republicans. in person has gone more towards

democrats. we have a case pending before the u.s. supreme court to decide that crucial last weekend on in person early voting. the last saturday, sunday, monday before the voting. >> great article, too, that you have written within the last couple of days. appreciate it. >> great. >> from ohio to another key battle 2k3wr0u7bd state, nevada. according to voter stats, there are 117,000 more registered democrats in the silver state than republicans. the gop is still gambling on victory going after nonpartisan voters and so called soft democrats. joining me is john rolfston. thank you for joining us. the latest poll puts the president two points ahead in nevada, within a four point margin of error on that one. state republicans are saying, hey, they will make a million contacts by phone or door to door. that's five times more than 2008 at this point.

can the democrats match that? is that important? >> well, contacting voters doesn't mean those voters are going to go to the polls, richard. the democratic machine here compared to the republican machine is like comparing a ferrari to a match box car. the republicans are doing better than they did in 2008 but that's such a lobar for them to get over because john mccain essentially deserted nevada but didn't campaign here. the democratic expert in the state, it's not just the obama machine, it's the harry reed machine. >> good point you bring up there, john. if the race does get tight as it shows, pundants are saying it's going to go democrat. >> yeah, i think these polls are underestimating obama's strength in the state. basically, the situation is because of the registration numbers here. if you get the large turnout that you're going to normally get in the presidential race, 80% of both parties will show

out. if you get that base support it's very difficult for obama to lose this state, richard. >> record turnout. 80% number. if that number goes higher, who does it help here, the democrats? >> well, i think the republicans are probably going to have a turnout advantage. they have in the last few cycles here. if it's five or six points that registration edge by the democrats will make up for it. but if it gets close to double digits, if they're turning out nonpartisan voters, then 9 race could be close. there's no evidence that's happening that i see. >> john, thanks for your time again. >> you bet. here's a look at some of the stories topping the news. the centers for disease control says the outbreak has risen to 205 cases nationwide. it was a tainted steroid shot that was given to patients. there are 14 states. tennessee has 56 cases and 6

deaths. dozens of cases have been reported in virginia, indiana, michigan. a jump for the ages. daredevil felix baumgartner, this gives me the willis watching this, he became the first man to break the sound barrier when he did that. he leapt from a ridiculous 24 miles above the earth's surface. he was at mock .24 before landing smoothly in the new mexico desert. the new york yankees are down but not out. the battles bombers have lost the first two games of the alcs at home to detroit tigers. manager joe girardi raged at a call, he appeared to put the tag on omar infante at second base. the play was called safe.

infante scored. girardi was tossed from the game. the best of seven series heads back to detroit on tuesday. clinton to the rescue. if president obama wins a second term, he might owe a big debt to the clintons. what should obama do to change the game at tomorrow's debate. tweet me @richardlui. we'll share your responses shortly. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2% back on groceries. [ all ] 3% on gas! no hoops to jump through. i earn more cash back on the things i buy most. [ woman in pet store ] it's as easy as... [ all ] one! -two. -[ all ] three! [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic.

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i had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did. i mean, i thought -- i thought, wow. here's old moderate mitt. where you been, boy? i missed you all these last few years. >> all right. former president bill clinton

using a folksy charm. he stumped with the boss. bubba's been on the stump ever since he wowed the dnc. what kind of clout does that give him and his family down the line if obama wins again. joining me is deputy white house editor for politico. edward isaac. >> hi, richard. >> good day to you. interesting premise here. what will the obama administration owe the clinton family, bill and hillary, if he does win? >> well, it seems like quite a lot. nobody could deny that that speech that president clinton delivered at the democratic convention was an important moment in this campaign. it seemed to galvanize the base of the democratic party and reach across to independents and moderates and get them thinking about the president in a different way, thinking about the problems that he faced and how he's been trying to overcome them in a way that maybe the president himself, president obama himself, could never have done.

>> you know, john heilman writes about this. if obama wins, it's because the former president saved his presidency. >> there are a lot of factors that will contribute. what's for sure true is president clinton has been an immensely powerful part of this race. president clinton's former advisor told me there's never been a race where someone who is not on the ballot has been so important. >> is the former president thinking of his wife, the secretary of state, hillary clinton, should she run in 2016? >> i think the entire democratic party and probably most people paying attention to politics are thinking about his wife and what she might do in 2016. there is no question that if we go into 2016 and hillary clinton is running, the resurrection of bill clinton's legacy and his persona as a real credible force erasing some of what happened in 2008 in the minds of people will be very important and, of

course, the debt that president obama will clearly owe to him is going to be important in shaping how that comes together. >> building some political equity there. thank you so much. appreciate your time again today. >> thank you. i want to thank the accecen college for hosting us. >> oh, boy, here we go. >> president obama made a promise. coming up, saturday night li live's take on the political debate. i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

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we asked what you think. and this is what we had asked a little bit earlier. one day to go, and the potus is

off the trail prepping. that was our question. you tweeted us. you say, "get romney to say specifics on taxes, supreme court, women's rights, women's equal pay, and jobs." and jillebond says, "obama needs to balance explaining his plans while pointing out romney's flaws. oh, and don't smile too much." @onlygod87 writes, "president obama should pray, enjoy a nice family dinner and do what he did to get him in office in 2008." and you can keep those tweets coming to @richardlui. we'll continue to read those. the vice presidential debate was a laughing matter at least on "saturday night live." it's time for the "the sidebar." >> closing statements, joe biden? >> to our seniors. i want to say folks, who do you trust up here? to our troops, i want to say guys and gals, we honor your service. to the afghan troops who will soon take over the security of

their own nation, i say -- and to the young people, to the young people out there who are worried they're never going to see that social security they're entitled to, i say, don't worry, h homies, big daddy joe's got your back. peace out! >> want to know the secret to the president's debate performance? sugar and caffeine. while biden was preparing for the debate, he was snacking on m&ms, animal crackers, energy drinks, coffee, tea and sandwiches. that's a lot of food. up for a debate tomorrow night, the role of moderator candy crowley. according to the original agreement, crowley was to play a limited role with the town hall format but not according to her. she believes she's going to have a bigger role with time to ask follow-up questions. the debate commission says it would discuss the matter with crowley and reconfirm her exact role. tommy thompson's campaign is apologizing for something his son said at a campaign event yesterday.

>> we have the opportunity to send president obama back to chicago. >> well, the campaign released this statement saying, quote, the governor has addressed this with his son, just like any father would do. jason thompson said something he should not have, and he apologizes, end quote. comedian stephen colbert meets the press and weighs on the presidential race, and he's giving mitt romney the edge right now. >> who has the edge in this race right now? >> romney, obviously. did you see him the other night? that guy is on fire! he is on a rocket ride to plausible! the real stephen is actually pleased as a performer that mitt romney got his [ bleep ] in a pile. because i model conservative punditry. and if he doesn't -- if he's not someone i can follow, then i'm lost. and i have to say, up until wednesday night, i just thought, i don't know what i'm going to do for the next month.

he exemplified a saying that i've heard since, which is clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. >> the creator of tv's "friday night lights" sent a cease and desist letter to romney for using that phrase. peter berg says he's not thrilled about that and asked him to come up with his own campaign slogan. on the show a small-town football coach uses the phrase to inspire players before taking the field. that wraps it up for me. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. now alex wagner is up next. i was thinking we should have stephen colbert moderate a venue for us. that would be firair. >> just a hint. we'll be talking the great presidential debate part two as romney and obama prepare for tomorrow's contest. new poll numbers and talking points raise new questions. what is on top for tomorrow? we're going to talk turkey. plus, the grand old party at a crossroads. we'll ask "the new york times'"

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how many policy prescriptions, skillful attacks and off-the-cuff witticisms can two men cram into their heads in the remaining minutes until tomorrow night's debate? it's monday, october 15th, and this is "now." joining me today, msnbc contributor sam stein of "the huffington post," benjamin wallace wells of "new york" magazine, making his debut on the set here at 30 rock. the intrepid maggie haberman of politico joins us. and "new york times" magaz